Pekin with swollen leg and can't walk.

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emilytb

emilytb

In the Brooder
5 Years
Apr 28, 2014
16
0
22
So my 5 week old pekin hasn't been able to walk for 5 days. Her right leg is very swollen and she can't put weight on it. Is tried epson salt compresses, extra niacin, and water therapy. It is still very swollen. Here are some pictures. I'm going to look into a vet tomorrow. Has anyone seen this before?
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Leg ailments in waterfowl are very common. To me it appears he has a form of infection which would explain the swelling. Have you noticed a scab on the bottom of his foot, and is the foot hot to the touch? For now I would try and keep it clean and try and have him keep pressure off of it. If it winds up being infected, an antibiotic injection should help clear it up, oral antibiotics do little for such things as I have learned from experience. I have a hen who had a very similar problem, I could never completely fix the problem however she still manages to get around and it has slowly (over a course of several months), been clearing up.
 
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Her pad on the bottom if her foot is scabby and dry. They are meant for eating so I'd like to do anything but an antibiotic.
 
The scabby dry spot suggests bumble foot. If you dont want to treat with an antibiotic, bumble foot surgery is another extremely effective treatment. I myself have not done it, but know many who have with great success. You can find step by step instructions for bumble foot surgery in either the forums or user created articles .
 
Since it's a duck, letting it have time in lukewarm water deep enough to float in will take some pressure off the foot and soften the skin a little. You can use an Epsom salt compress on the foot (don't let the E.s. be eaten, it is a laxative).

After a bath and compress, you can then drop a couple of drops of clear iodine - not brown, clear - in the center of the swollen spot. Then let it be for a few days. It should form a black scab. This may take up to 5 days or so. Soak the foot again, and the scab should loosen so you can pull the ugly stuff out.

Here is what Haunted55 found

On July 1st, I found one of my Pekin ducks with what I would consider a bad case of Bumblefoot. Both feet were involved and I'm ashamed to say, the only way I found it was she was limping. One foot had 7 and the other had 3. I was able to grab her and bring her into the house and put her into a warm bath to clean and soak. Two water changes later and softened feet, all I had time to do was paint the bumbles with colorless iodine, grabbed the wrong stuff, and put her into a dog crate in my house until I could get everything ready to operate and get them gone. Did I mention the thought of this scared me half to death?

Sad to say it took 6 days before i was able to get everything together and someone to help out with the 'cure'. The following pictures are what we found after the bath we gave before the planned surgery to remove these things.




















As can be seen, there really wasn't much to operate on, even though I was prepared to do just that. No matter how much squeezing or prodding or soaking, there just wasn't anything more to come out, it was all on the scabs that were covering the sores. The swelling was down from the 'marbles' I saw when I first found them. I poured betadine over the ones I had opened and painted the ones that I hadn't again with the iodine and put her back into her crate with clean bedding.

the next pictures are of the same Pekin and anothe duck, Dottie the Mallard, who was also found limping.












As can be seen in the first two pictures, the bumbles have been dramatically reduced on the Pekin with just the iodine application and the smaller ones totally gone. The last four pictures are of the Mallard who is still under going the iodine applications.

As can be seen, this is how the left and right foot look tonight on the Pekin duck. The heels being the worst are still showing infection and need for more treatment. tomorrow, I will again give a bath and pull/cut out the scabbing and treat with straight iodine this time. These spots are now flat or as flat as they should be considering the part of the foot they are on. I will still touch up the places that had the spots before as well.
 
Well my duck is still lame and can barely put any weight on her injured leg. Swelling has gone done considerably. Now it's mainly the "knee" hock joint that is swollen and her foot a little bit too. She doesn't use her wings any more but can hobble with a severe limp. I've been observing her in the bath and she try's to use her injured leg to scratch her face but can't quite reach. She'll paddle with it some but she is reluctant to use it for anything. She seems in good spirits and has a lot of fun in the bath but its been 4 weeks but even though she has improved I'm concerned it was a break. Or even worse it has been dislocated this entire time. No vets in my area with work on birds so I'm left to my own devices. Every morning she goes to a straw day bed on the porch and every night I bring her in the house. She gets 2 baths throughout the day.

Basically I need some encouragement to keep treating her or to put her down.
 
It is possible for her "knee" hock to get swollen and in flamed in an arthritic manner from compensating for the injured/painful foot. As long as you feel the foot is making progress, then I would try to treat the knee joint for inflammation with homeopathic medication. Try getting Arnica Montana 30C dissolvable pellets for humans online or in your local Vitamin Shoppe. Dissolve 3 pellets in a tsp of water and deliver by mouth using a syringe for medication ( you can get one from CVS) 3x a day for 7 days. Then see how the situation looks.
 
Mommahen I will give that I try as soon as I am able to find. I live an hour and a half from any kind of town which has made this a little difficult. I give her oregano from my own garden even now and then but mostly I just try to keep her happy, comfortable, and healthy.

Amiga, I was for the first week but it became so difficult to keep her still long enough I abandoned the idea. She is always her best right after a bath. This picture is of her bad leg right after I took her out of her bath this morning.
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.

I'm going on vacation this weekend to the California coast and it sounds like she may be coming with us...
 
@emilytb , I can appreciate that. I pray I never need to get up close and personal for medical treatment too much with any of my adopted ducks, as they apparently were not around people much their early days, or maybe they are just standoffish. I can never know. I do know that they get rather anxious if I get closer than five feet away. On the other hand, they do follow me - so it's not like they are frightened most of the time.

Trips to the vet - I herd them into a fence chute into a dog carrier. They don't have to be picked up. None of my ducks likes being picked up, but I know many ducks are more than just a little annoyed by the prospect.

Do what you can, what she will let you do, I pray it works out.
 

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